Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
Presence of hummock and hollow microtopography reflects shifting balances of shallow subsidence and root zone expansion along forested wetland river gradients Presence of hummock and hollow microtopography reflects shifting balances of shallow subsidence and root zone expansion along forested wetland river gradients
Tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFWs) are in an active phase of transition to tidal marsh with sea level rise and salinity incursion along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States (U.S.). A prominent feature of TFFWs is hummock/hollow microtopography where hollows represent the flat, base-elevation of the floodplain where inundation occurs relatively frequently, while...
Authors
Ken Krauss, Gregory Noe, Jamie A. Duberstein, Nicole Cormier, Andrew From, Thomas Doody, William Conner, Donald Cahoon, Darren Johnson
Historical fire regimes and contemporary fire effects within sagebrush habitats of Gunnison Sage-grouse Historical fire regimes and contemporary fire effects within sagebrush habitats of Gunnison Sage-grouse
The historical role of fire in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) landscapes remains poorly understood, yet is important to inform management and conservation of obligate species such as the threatened Gunnison Sage-grouse (GUSG; Centrocercus minimus). We reconstructed fire histories from tree-ring fire scars at sagebrush–forest ecotones (10 sites, 111 trees) to better understand the role...
Authors
Petar Simic, Jonathan Coop, Ellis Margolis, Jessica Young, Manuel Lopez
A 1300-year microfaunal record from the Beaufort Sea shelf indicates exceptional climate-related environmental changes over the last two centuries A 1300-year microfaunal record from the Beaufort Sea shelf indicates exceptional climate-related environmental changes over the last two centuries
The environments of Arctic Ocean nearshore areas experience high intra- and inter-annual variability, making it difficult to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic warming. However, a sediment record from the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea allowed us to reconstruct the impacts of climate and environmental changes over the last 1300 years along the northern Yukon coast, Canada. The coring...
Authors
Jade Falardeau, Anne de Vernal, Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Michael Fritz, Thomas Cronin, Laura Gemery, Andre Rochon, Vladislav Carnero-Bravo, Claude Hillaire-Marcel, Christof Pearce, Philippe Archambault
Hydrogeomorphic changes along mid-Atlantic coastal plain rivers transitioning from non-tidal to tidal: Implications for a rising sea level Hydrogeomorphic changes along mid-Atlantic coastal plain rivers transitioning from non-tidal to tidal: Implications for a rising sea level
Sea level rise is affecting reaches of coastal rivers by increasing water levels and propagating tides inland. The transition of river systems into tidal estuaries has been neglected in hydrogeomorphic studies. A better understanding of transitioning reaches is critical to understanding ecosystem dynamics, services, and developing predictive capabilities of change as sea levels rise. We
Authors
Daniel Kroes, Gregory Noe, Cliff Hupp, Thomas Doody, P.A. Bukaveckas
Prevailing impacts of river management on microplastic transport in contrasting US streams: Rethinking global microplastic flux estimations Prevailing impacts of river management on microplastic transport in contrasting US streams: Rethinking global microplastic flux estimations
While microplastic inputs into rivers are assumed to be correlated with anthropogenic activities and to accumulate towards the sea, the impacts of water management on downstream microplastic transport are largely unexplored. A comparative study of microplastic abundance in Boulder Creek (BC), and its less urbanized tributary South Boulder Creek (SBC), (Colorado USA), characterized the...
Authors
Anna Kukkola, Robert Runkel, Uwe Schneidewind, Sheila Murphy, Liam Kelleher, Greg Sambrook Smith, Holly Nel, Iseult Lynch, Stefan Krause
Broadening the perspectives of sedimentary organic matter analysis to understand Earth system response to change Broadening the perspectives of sedimentary organic matter analysis to understand Earth system response to change
This paper broadens the description of sedimentary organic matter from the conventional use of coal petrography to include palynological and geochemical sedimentary organic matter. Palynological sedimentary organic matter includes all chemically resistant organic microfossils, such as pollen and spores, dinocysts, microforaminifera (chitinoid-like linings of foraminifera), microscopic...
Authors
Debra A. Willard, Leslie F. Ruppert
Masting is uncommon in trees that depend on mutualist dispersers in the context of global climate and fertility gradients Masting is uncommon in trees that depend on mutualist dispersers in the context of global climate and fertility gradients
The benefits of masting (volatile, quasi-synchronous seed production at lagged intervals) include satiation of seed predators, but these benefits come with a cost to mutualist pollen and seed dispersers. If the evolution of masting represents a balance between these benefits and costs, we expect mast avoidance in species that are heavily reliant on mutualist dispersers. These effects...
Authors
Tong Qiu, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuna, Davide Ascoli, Yves Bergeron, Michal Mogdziewicz, Thomas Biovin, Raul Bonal, Thomas Caignard, Maxime Cailleret, Rafael Calama, Sergio Calderon, J. Camarero, Chia-Hua Chang-Yang, Jerome Chave, Francesco Chianucci, Benoit Courbaud, Andrea Cutini, Adrian Das, Nicolas Delpierre, Sylvain Delzon, Michael Dietze, Laurent Dormont, Josep Espelta, Timothy Fahey, William Farfar-Rios, Jerry Franklin, Catherine Gehring, Gregory Gilbert, Georg Gratzner, Cathryn Greenberg, Arthur Guignabert, Qinfeng Guo, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Arndt Hampe, Qingmin Han, Jan Holik, Kazuhiko Hoshizaki, Ines Ibanez, Jill Johnstone, Valentin Journé, Thomas Kitzberger, Jean Knops, Georges Kunstler, Hiroko Kurokawa, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jalene LaMontagne, Francois Lefevre, Theodor Leininger, Jean-Marc Limousin, James Lutz, Diana Macias, Anders Marell, Eliot McIntire, Christopher Moore, Emily Moran, Renzo Motta, Jonathan Myers, Thomas Nagel, Shoji Naoe, Mohoko Noguchi, Michio Oguro, Robert Parmenter, Ignacio M. Perez-Ramos, Lukasz Piechnik, Tomasz Podforski, John Poulsen, Miranda Redmond, Chad Reid, Kyle C. Rodman, Fransisco Rodrigues-Sanchez, Pavel Samonil, Javier Sanguinetto, Lane Scher, Barbara Seget, Shubhi Sharma, Mitsue Shibata, Miles Silman, Michael Steele, Nathan Stephenson, Jacob Straub, Samantha Sutton, Jennifer J. Swenson, Margaret Swift, Peter A. Thomas, Maria Uriarte, Giorgio Vacchiano, Amy V. Whipple, Thomas Whitham, Andreas Wion, Joseph Wright, Kai Zhu, Jess Zimmermann, Magdalena Zywiec, James Clark
Integrated analysis shows how the effects of extreme flooding events propagate through fish communities to impact amphibians Integrated analysis shows how the effects of extreme flooding events propagate through fish communities to impact amphibians
Research Highlight: Davis, C. L., Walls, S. C., Barichivich, W. J., Brown, M. E., & Miller, D. A. (2022). Disentangling direct and indirect effects of extreme events on coastal wetland communities. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13874. Catastrophic events such as floods, hurricanes, winter storms, droughts and wildfires increasingly touch our lives either...
Authors
James Grace
Roles of climatic and anthropogenic factors in shaping Holocene vegetation and fire regimes in Great Dismal Swamp, eastern USA Roles of climatic and anthropogenic factors in shaping Holocene vegetation and fire regimes in Great Dismal Swamp, eastern USA
The Great Dismal Swamp wetland, spanning >400 km2 along the Virginia and North Carolina border, was shaped by a complex combination of geomorphic, climatic, and anthropogenic forcings during the last 14,000 years. Pollen, macrofossils, charcoal, and physical properties from sediment cores at seven sites provide a detailed record of the spatial heterogeneity of the wetland and the roles...
Authors
Debra A. Willard, Miriam Jones, Jay Alder, David Fastovich, Kristen Hoefke, Robert Poirier, Fred Wurster
Synergistic soil, land use, and climate influences on wind erosion on the Colorado Plateau: Implications for management Synergistic soil, land use, and climate influences on wind erosion on the Colorado Plateau: Implications for management
Two decades of drought in the southwestern USA are spurring concerns about increases in wind erosion, dust emissions, and associated impacts on ecosystems, agriculture, human health, and water supply. Different avenues of investigation into primary drivers of wind erosion and dust have yielded mixed results depending on the spatial and temporal sensitivity of the evidence. We monitored...
Authors
Travis W. Nauman, Seth Munson, Saroj Dhital, Nicholas Webb, Michael Duniway
Permafrost microbial communities and functional genes are structured by latitudinal and soil geochemical gradients Permafrost microbial communities and functional genes are structured by latitudinal and soil geochemical gradients
Permafrost underlies approximately one quarter of Northern Hemisphere terrestrial surfaces and contains 25–50% of the global soil carbon (C) pool. Permafrost soils and the C stocks within are vulnerable to ongoing and future projected climate warming. The biogeography of microbial communities inhabiting permafrost has not been examined beyond a small number of sites focused on local...
Authors
Mark Waldrop, Chris Chabot, Susanne Liebner, Sheila Holmes, Marcia Snyder, Martin Dillon, S Dudgeon, Thomas Douglas, Mary-Catherine Leewis, Katie Walter- Anthony, Jack McFarland, Christopher Arp, Allen Bondurant, Neslihan Tas, Rachel Mackelprang
Deep root activity overprints weathering of petrogenic organic carbon in shale Deep root activity overprints weathering of petrogenic organic carbon in shale
The oxidation of organic carbon in sedimentary bedrock (petrogenic OC, OCpetro) is increasingly recognized as a potential source of CO2 to the atmosphere. Recent studies provide evidence for the mobilization and oxidation of OCpetro in sedimentary bedrock during rock weathering. However, the mechanisms and rates remain uncertain, particularly where overlying soils and vegetation drive
Authors
Alison Tune, Jennifer Druhan, Corey Lawrence, Daniella Rempe